Moving on – south

At sea between Banks Peninsular and Dunedin

Wednesday 19 February 2020

After saying a sad farewell to Dean, Sandy and Samantha this morning – kindly driven to the airport by Matt on his way to work – it was a relaxing time aboard as we awaited John’s arrival in the afternoon.

“I’ll say good bye now, because I may be asleep in the morning” … but still, Carsten was up early to say good-bye with hugs all round

Ashore and waiting for uber-friend and ride, Matt Brosnahan

Matt and the gang … off to the airport, Melbourne and “normal” life once more.

Chimere is out of view, behind the building in the background

John was kindly being ferried to Akaroa from his home in Christchurch by his uber-wife and ground crew Maryke. But not before spending some time at his local supermarket buying a list of goodies and provisions for the next leg south.

After considering the 3-5 day weather forecast, from three different sources, along with the possible stop-off options along the way, we have concluded that we should set a course straight for Dunedin; which roughly south west from here. This leg of 150 miles should take us around 25 hours, at an average speed of 6kts. Meaning that if we leave here around 3pm this afternoon, we’ll be off Cape Saunders (Dunedin) at 4pm tomorrow; taking it in turns on watch along the way.

The winds for this leg seem either light or favourable, with the seas calm. Once near Cape Saunders we will check the forecast again and either slip into Port Chalmers (Dunedin) for shelter, or press on the 135 miles further to the village of Oban on Stewart Island.

What we are trying to avoid of course are the strong head winds and rising seas that make for an unpleasant time.

Being a fair way offshore, there is every chance that it will be difficult to upload posts to this website as we head south … but we’ll see.

Visit www.stewartisland.co.nz to discover more about Stewart Island

Smooth seas, fair breeze and time to move on!

Rob Latimer

2 thoughts on “Moving on – south”

Hi Rob, everything seems to be proceeding extremely well. I look forward each day to your new blog. How you find time with all that sailing, eating and drinking to produce daily a new chapter of your, no doubt, forth-coming book, I simply don’t know. But it’s a great read! Keep up the good work!

Have you come across the author of many books, Brian Lavery, Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich? I’ve just read his most interesting book, ‘Empire of the Seas’, about the British Navy through history. Among his other books, is ‘Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O’Brian’.I think it might be a worthy edition to the library of Chimere.

Best regards

Bill (aka, Πατέρα Γουίλιαμ)

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